


GlitchTale: Revived Sans Behavior

by ArgentDandelion



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Analysis, Character Analysis, Fights, Gaster Blasters, Gen, Glitchtale, Hatred, Magical Self-Expression, Meta, Nonfiction, References to Undertale Genocide Route, Self-Hatred, Strategy & Tactics, Temporary Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-06
Updated: 2018-04-10
Packaged: 2020-08-10 08:13:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,674
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20132209
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArgentDandelion/pseuds/ArgentDandelion
Summary: Analyzes Sans' unusual behavior and attitude while influenced by the hate substance in GlitchTale.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Transferred from Tumblr.

_Contains spoilers. Made prior to watching “My Promise”, Season 2, Episode 5._

In the _GlitchTale_ episode “Love”, Betty revives Sans from a SOUL using the hate substance. Sans attacks Frisk, seemingly to kill, and in all probability is filled with hate for Frisk. When Papyrus shows up, Sans changes both his targets and his tactics.

Some of his tactical changes aren’t excusable as adaptations to the different weaknesses and strengths of his new target. If his goal is to kill Papyrus, some of his tactic changes make him less effective in achieving that goal.

When fighting Frisk in the first _GlitchTale_ video, he uses four Gaster Blasters at a time. In “Love”, to fight Frisk he uses five Gaster Blasters. However, with Papyrus, he uses only two.

Sans also attacks Papyrus using a bone with a pointed end as a held weapon. In both _Undertale_ and _GlitchTale_, this sort of attack has never been shown before: indeed, it’s possible Sans has never used this type of attack before. Furthermore, Papyrus is a skeleton: logically, piercing attacks would not work well.

Though a dirty cheater, Sans also doesn’t use dirty cheater tactics when fighting Papryus. Given he attacks between turns in-games by targeting the interface buttons, it’s in-character to him to interrupt Papyrus’ and Frisk’s conversation with an attack, but he doesn’t do this.

As Sans can explicitly teleport in _GlitchTale_, he could easily teleport behind Papyrus and blast him point-blank.[1](https://argentdandelion.tumblr.com/post/172668692640/glitchtale-revived-sans-behavior-part-1#fn:1) As his KR bonus might not be useful against Papyrus (see below), this tactic seems especially useful, but Sans doesn’t even try it.

Gaster Blasters aside, Sans only deals one point of damage (per frame of attack), so KR from his attacks are his primary way of inflicting damage. Assuming KR damage is proportionate to LV or only works on people with high LV, Sans’ KR effect wouldn’t work well on Papyrus, (if at all) because Papyrus’ LV is much lower than Frisk’s at this point.

There’s also the matter of Papyrus having much higher HP than Frisk. If one assumes Sans’ Gaster Blasters are not simply one-hit KOs, but deal 92 damage per blast (the human’s maximum HP at LV 19 is 92), and Papyrus has 680 HP, then inflicting 92 damage is only ~13.5 of Papyrus’s total health. One blast is not as big a deal to Papyrus as for Frisk.

One should note the content of Sans’ dialogue to Papyrus, and the fact he’s talking in-battle at all. In his Genocide Route battle, Sans talks a lot, but the attitude and subject of his dialogue there is very different from his dialogue to Papyrus here. Furthermore, during both “Megalomaniac” (the first episode of _GlitchTale_) and “Love”, he doesn’t talk to Frisk in-battle.

It’s clear he’s treating Papyrus differently than Frisk. That Papyrus outright asks him “do you remember me?” sounds socially oblivious: of course Sans does.

* * *

  1. In fact, he’s used this tactic before on Gaster in “Yet Darker” (Season 2, episode 1). (at 4:15 in the video, to be specific) While their fighting styles are different, if Gaster and Papyrus are the same kind of monster, then effective tactics against them may overlap. Perhaps Sans doesn’t use this tactic frequently when fighting humans because humans have hateful intent bonuses against monsters and generally attack at close range. [↩︎](https://argentdandelion.tumblr.com/post/172668692640/glitchtale-revived-sans-behavior-part-1#fnref:1)


	2. Chapter 2

_(Contains spoilers. Made prior to watching “My Promise”.)_

In “Love” (Season 2 Episode 4 of GlitchTale), Betty uses the hate substance to revive Sans from a SOUL to fight Frisk. When Papyrus shows up, Sans changes targets, fighting him instead while talking to him.

Sans’ combat tactics [(see previous post)](http://argentdandelion.tumblr.com/post/172668692640/glitchtale-revived-sans-behavior-part-1) are much less effective than his tactics against Frisk. The simplest explanation as to why his tactics are so much less effective is that he, in fact, _doesn’t_ want to kill Papyrus. (After all, wouldn’t that be really out of character of him?)

So why is he attacking Papyrus?

One might blame the hate substance. Logically, the hate substance would make him hate whatever his target was, including Papyrus, up to the point of killing the target. But that’s not necessarily the case. It could be that he’s filled with hate, but not for something specific: it’s up to his own mind to provide a specific reason for his strong emotions. After all, in Season 1 Chara was motivated to punish Frisk for doing the Genocide Route/thinking they’re above consequences, rather than being mindlessly destructive. [1](https://argentdandelion.tumblr.com/post/172805608440/glitchtale-revived-sans-behavior-part-2#fn:1)

When he sees Papyrus, his dialogue would suggest he does not hate Papyrus:

> **Papyrus:** “I know you’re there Sans[.] I won’t fight you…no matter how many times you attack me[…]I won’t fight back[.]”  
**Sans:** “If you only defend yourself…you’ll only end up getting killed. So I don’t get it…why won’t you attack back!”  
**Papyrus:** “Because you’re my brother…”

In his dialogue, he seems puzzled as to why Papyrus won’t fight back. Notably, he says: “you’ll only end up getting killed” and not “I’ll kill you”. This makes it ambiguous whether he even wants to kill Papyrus.

So if Sans neither hates nor wants to kill Papyrus, why is he attacking Papyrus anyway?

It’s simple: he’s not using magic with the intent to cause harm, but as self-expression: either voluntarily or involuntarily. His attacks reflect his own negative feelings.

Monsters are at least capable of expressing themselves through magic.[2](https://argentdandelion.tumblr.com/post/172805608440/glitchtale-revived-sans-behavior-part-2#fn:2) The evidence comes from a book in the Snowdin Librarby _(see above)_ and in-battle evidence. One example is Papyrus making his “COOL DUDE” bone pattern and cool sunglasses-bone attack as a means of expressing himself to a particular end. [Another example](https://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Dz_jjajwVJ8I&t=YTZhZTc3YTIzMTg5YzQxZmRhNmIwNGY2YWIwMTVkMTY5MjY4ZmY5Nix6U0NvY2xSMw%3D%3D&b=t%3AHZZTbr56CX-Pu8cYzedJTw&p=https%3A%2F%2Fargentdandelion.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F172805608440%2Fglitchtale-revived-sans-behavior-part-2&m=1) is Dogamy’s dog-bark attack pattern changing if Dogaressa is killed: rather than his dog-attack emitting a ring of heart-bullets with some blue hearts, the dog attack looks sad and feebly emits only a single white heart. In neither context is the monster outright aggressive.

This self-expression through magic could very well be be done non-consciously. As [Zarla-s points out](http://zarla-s.tumblr.com/post/132713136209/tragic-detail-of-the-day-i-posted-before-about), a particular pattern of crisscrossing tiny bones always shows up at a particular part of Papyrus’s battle, when he’s talking about Sans. The same pattern, plus a lot of taller bones, is also the first one Sans uses after his initial barrage. Zarla thus concludes:

> "So if a monster’s attack pattern is a way to express their feelings… then that attack is each of them thinking about the other.”

The attack patterns do cause damage, admittedly, but if Undyne’s training with Asgore and Papyrus[3](https://argentdandelion.tumblr.com/post/172805608440/glitchtale-revived-sans-behavior-part-2#fn:3) is any indication, monsters may fight each other without malicious intent, or the pain of their bullets may not actually be intentional.[4](https://argentdandelion.tumblr.com/post/172805608440/glitchtale-revived-sans-behavior-part-2#fn:4)

If Sans is causing significant harm to Papyrus, it’s possible he doesn’t intend to kill him or foresee Papyrus may die from the attacks. (If Sans _did_ hate Papyrus, his tactics would surely be more effective.)

So what does Sans hate, if it’s not Papyrus? Based on his dialogue to Papyrus, it’s more likely he hates one (or a combination) of three things: himself, his inability to understand Papyrus’s refusal to fight back, or being unable to change Papyrus’s fate of dying to the human.

Sans remembers the previous timeline, probably due to initiating a RESET himself with Frisk’s SOUL. As that timeline was an aborted Genocide Route timeline, he may very well remember how Papryus died. Thus, a hatred related to Papyrus’s Genocide Route death could come from concern for Papyrus’s safety. Indeed, he might even hate his inability to protect his brother (in some way) more than Frisk.

* * *

* * *

  1. Assuming monsters feel and interpret emotions similarly to humans, it may be similar to the phenomenon of [misattribution of arousal.](https://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FMisattribution_of_arousal&t=NTY3ZjY0MGU5MTc4NWQ3MjdkYTY4NzAzOWU3ODg5YmNhMmM5OTBkNix6U0NvY2xSMw%3D%3D&b=t%3AHZZTbr56CX-Pu8cYzedJTw&p=https%3A%2F%2Fargentdandelion.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F172805608440%2Fglitchtale-revived-sans-behavior-part-2&m=1) [↩︎](https://argentdandelion.tumblr.com/post/172805608440/glitchtale-revived-sans-behavior-part-2#fnref:1)

  2. It’s unclear whether it’s “self-expression” like facial expressions, or something that requires conscious decisions or training, like art or dance. Of course, one’s choice of art or dance may reflect one’s emotions even if the purpose isn’t emotional expression. [↩︎](https://argentdandelion.tumblr.com/post/172805608440/glitchtale-revived-sans-behavior-part-2#fnref:2)

  3. The dialogue in the Undyne hangout doesn’t explicitly say Undyne and Papyrus used to fight each other as part of training, merely that she “started teaching him how to cook”. Undyne does say he’s “pretty freaking tough”, though, and it seems most probable she knows this from fighting him herself. [↩︎](https://argentdandelion.tumblr.com/post/172805608440/glitchtale-revived-sans-behavior-part-2#fnref:3)

  4. One example: Vulkin’s “healing lava”. [↩︎](https://argentdandelion.tumblr.com/post/172805608440/glitchtale-revived-sans-behavior-part-2#fnref:4)


	3. Chapter 3

_(Contains spoilers. Made before watching “My Promise”.)_

* * *

There are some weaknesses with the self-expression hypothesis of Part 2. Namely, Sans’ facial expressions don’t match up with, say, “friendly sparring match”, “frustrated”, or even just “fierce”. 

When he’s attacking Papyrus, his expressions range from “deeply irritated/hateful” (35:28, 35:47) to “dangerously unhinged” (34:22) to “condescending and cocky” (i.e., an evil smirk). (34:37, 35:17, 35:37)

In other words, though his dialogue suggests he doesn’t intend to kill Papyrus, his facial expressions suggest he does.[1](https://argentdandelion.tumblr.com/post/172805649484/glitchtale-revived-sans-behavior-part-3#fn:1)

His facial expressions could still be a clue, though. When fighting Papyrus, his eyes do not glow blue/blue-and-pink.[2](https://argentdandelion.tumblr.com/post/172805649484/glitchtale-revived-sans-behavior-part-3#fn:2) If one interprets his eyes glowing blue as meaning he’s putting particular effort into an attack or straining himself, then this could mean he’s holding back when attacking Papyrus, despite the hateful look.

Perhaps, when Sans is influenced by the hate substance, he has the same sentiments and beliefs he has when at his most hateful: namely, when killing Frisk in the Genocide Route. Part of the reason he hates Frisk so much is that they killed Papyrus. Therefore, when Papyrus shows up, perfectly fine, it causes Sans’ behavior to change.[3](https://argentdandelion.tumblr.com/post/172805649484/glitchtale-revived-sans-behavior-part-3#fn:3)

* * *

  1. Chara also looks scary/creepy when negotiating with Asriel, but Chara has an excuse: Chara may very well always look creepy. [↩︎](https://argentdandelion.tumblr.com/post/172805649484/glitchtale-revived-sans-behavior-part-3#fnref:1)

  2. It’s a common misconception/artists’ interpretation that Sans’ right eye frequently glows blue. It in fact flashes between blue and yellow, and only in his especially desperate seemingly second-to-last attack in the Genocide Route. [↩︎](https://argentdandelion.tumblr.com/post/172805649484/glitchtale-revived-sans-behavior-part-3#fnref:2)

  3. Only part of the reason. Sans won’t fight the human unless the human has wiped out every monster they possibly can up to that point. Non-Genocide routes in which Papyrus is killed makes Sans mad, but he still doesn’t try to kill the human. [↩︎](https://argentdandelion.tumblr.com/post/172805649484/glitchtale-revived-sans-behavior-part-3#fnref:3)


End file.
